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DistributionsNews and Editorials Testing Kubuntu 5.04 Once you install Kubuntu on your desktop computer, it is easy to see why the Ubuntu project has been such a resounding success. A simple, text-based installation procedure, excellent hardware auto-detection and configuration, an intuitive desktop that most people will find easy-to-navigate, and a great support community. And although, in line with most other major distribution, setting up the playback of multimedia files or installing browser plugins requires extra effort, this has been made considerably easier - thanks to the excellent 60-page Unofficial Ubuntu Guide. The only complaint about the previous version of Ubuntu -- its strong preference for the GNOME desktop and brown colors -- has now also been addressed - by Kubuntu, an increasingly popular sub-project of Ubuntu Linux.As the name suggests, Kubuntu is essentially Ubuntu for users who prefer KDE over GNOME. The developers created DEB packages of the latest version of KDE and built installation and live CDs for three architectures - i386, PPC and x86_64. We installed the i386 edition of Kubuntu 5.04 ("Hoary Hedgehog") on a test computer powered by a Pentium 4 1.4GHz processor and Intel 850 chipset with 384 MB of RAM and a Matrox Millennium G450 graphics card. The installation program, based on a recent Debian Sarge installer, was a straightforward affair requiring little human intervention. At the end of it, we found ourselves looking at a KDM login screen, and shortly afterward, at a KDE desktop with a cool blue wallpaper and desktop theme. The first thing we normally do after installing a new distribution is to check for security updates. For package management, Kubuntu uses Kynaptic, a graphical front-end for apt-get, which comes pre-configured with sources pointing to Ubuntu's security and update servers. Kynaptic is obviously modeled on Synaptic, but despite its better integration with the KDE desktop, it fades in comparison with its better-known counterpart - it lacks a way to update the sources.list file from within its GUI and it also has some interface quirks, which usually indicate that the product has not quite reached the 1.0 status. Nevertheless, as a simple package management utility, it works fine and we were able to refresh the package information and upgrade a handful of packages that were listed as being already installed, but needed upgrades. As Kubuntu comes on only one CD, it goes without saying that many useful packages have been omitted from the CD and are only available from Ubuntu's online repositories (Kubuntu does not have its own repository). We went on to create a more functional developer's workstation by installing software that we normally use around here, including Apache, BitTorrent, gFTP, GIMP, Java, PHP, Firefox, Quanta, and a number of other packages. This completed without a hitch. Since Kubuntu basically represents a subset of Ubuntu Linux, we decided to install a full GNOME desktop too, just to prove the concept. This can be done by selecting the "ubuntu-desktop" package from the list and the 200+ dependent packages are then selected automatically. The installation completed flawlessly and a new "GNOME" entry has appeared under the KDM's "Session Type" menu; however the GNOME desktop came up with an unpopulated default panel and without the usual desktop icons. Nevertheless, the concept worked and we were able to turn the Kubuntu installation into a full Kubuntu + Ubuntu desktop. Usable as the default Kubuntu desktop is, some users will undoubtedly want more - notably some of the proprietary applications and multimedia codecs, but also some useful open source applications that are not in the official Ubuntu repositories. This is where the above-mentioned Unofficial Ubuntu Guide comes handy - it explains things in layman's terms and guides users through re-configuring sources.list and installing applications. We followed the instructions and installed and configured Java Runtime Environment, Macromedia Flash Plugin, Acrobat Reader, Skype, several multimedia codecs and DVD playback functionality, MPlayer and RealPlayer. With instructions about how to install non-Latin fonts and how to configure input method editors for inputting Asian character sets, international users are not neglected either. The guide also explains how to install several commercial applications, popular games, the NVIDIA driver, and drivers for certain winmodems. After less than an hour of following the instructions in the guide, we succeeded in turning a stock Kubuntu installation into a powerful and highly usable Linux workstation with just about everything a desktop user might need. And this is when we suddenly realized why the Ubuntu project has been such an enormous success. It is not just the wealthy sponsor and the skilled Linux developers that produce quality software, it is also the existence of various sub-projects and community efforts (such as Kubuntu or the Unofficial User Guide) that have contributed a great deal towards its growing acceptance. Of course, there are many excellent distributions on the market. But to our knowledge, none of them can boast an existence of a comprehensive free manual that tells its users how to install, configure and use some of the useful non-free software and how to enhance their Linux operating system to get, in terms of usability, as close as possible to Mac OS or MS Windows. This guide, already translated into a number of languages, should be the first stop of any new Ubuntu/Kubuntu user. Both Ubuntu and Kubuntu are impressive distributions that are deservedly becoming the leaders of the desktop Linux (of course, they can be used on servers too). In fact, it is very hard to find any fault with Hoary Hedgehog - it has a solid installer, hands-off hardware setup, and many little enhancements that makes computers so much more fun. Its community resources are hard to beat and it is still the only project that has produced both installation and live CDs for three architectures. If you haven't tried Ubuntu/Kubuntu, do yourself a favor and install it on a spare partition. Chances are that it will find a permanent home on your hard disk.
New Releases Nimbus 4.0 for secure supercomputing Linux Labs has announced the availability of Nimbus 4.0, a distribution aimed at secure supercomputing applications. Nimbus combines the bproc single system image patches with SELinux, and tosses in the cryptographic filesystem (CFS) as well. The distribution does not appear to be available for download, however.
Progeny Debian 3.0 Developer Edition PR1 released Progeny Componentized Linux has announced the release of Progeny Debian 3.0 Developer Edition PR1. "Progeny Debian 3.0 Developer Edition is an example distribution based on Componentized Linux. It is essentially a snapshot of Debian sarge as of April 2005 that includes an easy-to-use, graphical installer and a fully integrated GNOME desktop environment."
Mandriva Linux LE2005 available for download ISO images for Mandriva's Linux LE2005 release are now available for download; click below for the announcement, or go straight to the product page to find a download site.
CDMEDIC PACS WEB 6 Released (LinuxMedNews) LinuxMedNews covers the release of version 6 of CDMEDIC, a live Linux CD with PACS WEB [Picture Archive and Communication System], medical spell checker and more.
Distribution News Debian Sarge freezes Those awaiting a stable Debian Sarge release may be encouraged by the news that the release managers have declared a freeze. "Now to explain what, exactly, we mean by "freeze". The base freeze upload policy of uploading changes in through unstable if you can, and testing-proposed-updates if you must, has worked well (or so is the subjective opinion of the release team), so we plan to continue to apply the same policy for the freeze of the rest of the archive."
Debian Sarge release notes There will be a Bug Squashing Party May 5 to May 8, 2005 to squish RC bugs, test woody->sarge upgrades, fix remaining security issues (especially non-RC ones), and more.This update looks at the infrastructure and release status as of April 30, 2005.
GNOME 2.10 LiveCD (GnomeDesktop) Footnotes takes note that a live Linux CD showcasing GNOME 2.10 has been downloaded more than 50,000 times, and it is also available in Greek.
Announcing the availability of Unofficial Ubuntu 5.04 Add-On CD An unofficial add-on CD is available for Ubuntu 5.04, with lots of extra packages.
Stateless Debian Project The Stateless Debian Project is looking for active volunteers/developers. "Stateless Linux converts normal Linux desktop/clients to Stateless machines or appliances, which means if throw your computer out of window you still will be able to get exactly same same settings/data when you log from any other pc in the network ....A single administrator can easily manage network thousands of desktops ...Stateless Linux centralizes the state in a Gold server (different from CFengine) and rest of clients are updated regularly from it . This is different from thin clients as local processing power and memory of clients is used (or cached client)"
Debconf5 update DebConf5 is coming up in July. This updates takes a look at the current sponsors, speakers and topics and more. "For people that want to hack together in a focused way, the location is available ahead of time. Note that it has proven to be of limited productivity to come and "just work on something" or "just help". You can read mail and browse the web at home. If you however work on a team (e.g. d-i, debian-edu, debian-cd, ...) you are very welcome: This is your opportunity for tight face-to-face cooperation and team work! Please let us know how many you are and when you want to come. The dorm is available for you from the 3rd. We will still be setting up the infrastructure, but basic net access will be there from the start."
Distribution Newsletters Debian Weekly News The Debian Weekly News for May 3, 2005 is out with a look at the minutes of the leadership team meeting, some thoughts about dealing with PHP application design flaws, the Debian administration website, a Debconf update, and more.
Gentoo Weekly Newsletter The Gentoo Weekly Newsletter for the week of May 2, 2005 is out. This edition covers some officially unofficial developer documentation, speed bumps on the way to OpenLDAP 2.2, ebuild cruft, headhunter spam, KDE-look.org migrates to a Gentoo Linux host, and several other topics.
DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 98 The DistroWatch Weekly for May 2, 2005 is out. "If you are losing patience waiting for the ISO images of the new Mandriva Linux 2005, why not perform a network installation instead? It is easy and we'll show you how. Will will also address the issue of the never-ending stream of new distributions vying for our attention, and point out some serious problems with the latest release of the GCC compiler. In the biggest DistroWatch Weekly ever, we have a user-contributed review of the increasingly popular SLAX live CD, and present FetchYahoo in Robert Storey's "Tips, tricks & hints" section."
Package updates Fedora updates Fedora Core 3 updates: wireless-tools-27-2.2.0.fc3 (fix iwlist command), spamassassin-3.0.3-3.fc3 (a bunch of bug fixes), gimp-2.2.6-0.fc3.2 (silence %post), bootparamd-0.17-19.FC3 (bug fixes), php-4.3.11-2.5 (fixes a compatibility issue), vte-0.11.13-1.fc3 (a whole bunch of upstream fixes), policycoreutils-1.18.1-2.12 (eliminate bogus error on upgrading policy), words-3.0-2.3 (sort with --dictionary-order and remove possessives), util-linux-2.12a-24.1 (bug fixes).The i386 perl package was accidentally shipped with FC3 x86_64. This causes updates to clash and fail on FC3 x86_64 systems. To recover from this error use: yum remove perl.i386
Mandriva Linux updates Mandriva Linux 10.2 (LE2005) updates: ldetect-lst (provides support for the XBook modem), rpmdrake (fixes a bug in the Software Media Manager), mdkonline (Mandriva domain name changes - also available for 10.0, 10.1, Corporate Server 3.0 and Multi Network Firewall 2.0).Mandriva Linux Corporate Server 3.0 updates: lsb (provides corrected install_initd, remove_initd scripts).
Slackware Linux updates Click below for this week's slice of the Slackware change log. Upgraded packages include hdparm, Linux kernel 2.4.30, bind, getmail, gxine and more.
Trustix Secure Linux updates Trustix Secure Linux Bugfix Advisory #2005-0017 covers bug fixes in apache, bind, imagemagick, initscripts, kernel, libcap, libpcap, perl-convert-uulib, php, pptpd, proftpd, setup and squid.
Distribution reviews SuSE Linux Professional 9.3 (eWeek) eWeek reviews SUSE Linux 9.3 Pro. "Novell Inc.'s SuSE Linux Professional 9.3 is an excellent general-purpose operating system. In fact, when it comes to combining leading-edge Linux and open-source software, Version 9.3 is the most polished and complete Linux distribution eWEEK Labs has tested."
Mandriva LE--The Drake Flies South for the Future (LinuxPlanet) LinuxPlanet reviews Mandriva Limited Edition. "Mandriva offers a nice, customized Control Center to enable you to customize your system's appearance, behavior, and configuration. It offers some truly cool features that I haven't seen in other control centers, such as the ability to set up an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for power monitoring and to define WebDAV mount points for accessing Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning sites as filesystems."
First Look at a Distro Changed: Mandriva LE 2005 (MadPenguin) MadPenguin reviews Mandriva Limited Edition 2005. "When everything is said and done and I've finally powered down the test system, I'd have to say that the Mandriva Limited Edition 2005 desktop was an all around good performer. Of all the applications I tested, none failed to open and the desktop was extremely responsive. The installation was simple enough for new users but had the capability of fine tuning for advanced users, boot time was good, device support was good for the systems I tested on (although it's high time we invested in some oddball systems to test on. Most of the hardware here is fairly standard and needs to be noted) and my overall opinion of this release is strong."
Ututo-e, the 'only free distribution' (NewsForge) NewsForge reviews the Ututo-e distribution. "Ututo-e is a Gentoo-based distribution developed in Argentina. Of all the x86 distributions listed on DistroWatch, Ututo-e is the only distribution endorsed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). Since he first noticed Ututo-e while visiting Argentina last August, Richard Stallman has described it as "the only free GNU/Linux distro I know of" -- an endorsement that promises to boost its user base the way that John F. Kennedy's endorsement of the James Bond books boosted their sales."
My Workstation OS: VidaLinux (NewsForge) NewsForge has this article about VidaLinux. "Many call VidaLinux a "simpler Gentoo." It uses many of Gentoo's features, such as the Portage software distribution system, but also manages to make it all seem less intimidating. For instance, it uses Red Hat's Anaconda installation system. Anaconda is a graphical interface, which many find easier than Gentoo's command-line installation. Vida's system components also come prebuilt and ready for installation, whereas Gentoo's installation requires everything to be built from the command line, which intimidates some people."
Review: PCQuest Linux 2005 (NewsForge) NewsForge reviews PCQuest Linux 2005. "Two of the most interesting installation options provided with PCQ Linux 2005 are Supercomputing and Grid Computing. PCQ Linux includes OSCAR (Open Source Cluster Application Resources) and some management utilities to help you set up your own backyard supercomputer, limited only by the number of machines you have. An article in the magazine covers the initial setup, hardware requirements, and network configuration."
Page editor: Rebecca Sobol |
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